


A Lack of Communication

by Sammykh



Series: Roleplay Scenarios [1]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Cecil Is a Good Boyfriend, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Roleplay, condos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-06 18:12:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4231758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sammykh/pseuds/Sammykh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this on this show, by the way, um,…but Carlos is totally my boyfriend! I just didn’t know if I had brought that up before. He’s— he’s very handsome. And into science. And he is learning to be better about calling when he needs to cancel dates to get some experiments done.</p><p>Co-written by: http://cecilvoiceofnvcr.tumblr.com/</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Lack of Communication

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place before, during and after Condos  
> I was Carlos
> 
> each - is the switch of the turns.

-Tapping his right foot against the ground, his shoe making a continuous clicking sound, Cecil leaned against the outside of Big Rico’s, his arms crossed, sunglasses covering the glare he was giving everyone who walked past that wasn’t the person he wanted to see, the person who /promised/ they would be here, on time, almost an entire damn hour ago. He checked his phone, yet again, and then tugged uncomfortably at his sundress. It was so hot that even such a thin piece of fabric was too much. He was supposed to be inside looking pretty and making Carlos blush, not outside with the stupid thing sticking to his gross sweaty skin. Ugh. He crossed his arms again and harrumphed miserably, and after a few more minutes he realized Carlos wasn’t coming. He sighed heavily, shook his head, and then started back off towards his house, his gaze on the ground.

-Carlos had been working hard all day. He hit an excellent stream of data that allowed him to make several small breakthroughs and had helped him understand a little more about the town! He just couldn’t stop testing and checking his notes and doing… well doing science! He got so caught up that he hadn’t noticed the sun go down. As he finished the last of his notes, he saw how late it had gotten, and instantly his good mood switched to utter realization that he had completely forgotten Cecil…. again. He cursed under his breath, and raced out the door.

-Cecil collapsed on his couch when he got home, tossing his things down on the floor with a sigh. He debated calling Carlos, but then…that would require moving, and he didn’t really feel up to that right now. Plus it was Carlos who was supposed to call him. Cecil didn’t just miss a date. Cecil didn’t just stand someone up. And so Cecil was allowed to stay on the couch and pout.

-Carlos was cursing himself as he drove to Cecil's apartment from the lab. 7 times! 7 times he has stood Cecil up because he had gotten too carried away. ‘So much for perfect’ He thought with a laugh to himself. Cecil was the one who not only had seemingly endless amount of patience, but he actually showed up on time to everything. As he entered the apartment complex, and parked his car, he began practicing his apology, knowing that as much as he apologized, It may not be enough this time. Carlos didn't know whether to walk in or knock, so he did both.

-Cecil had turned on the television, watching it without being very interested, and he didn’t move when Carlos entered, though he did glance up. “Hi, love,” he said quietly, smiling a bit sadly.

-“Cecil…” Carlos stopped himself. He knew that this time, an apology was too little, not worth much after repeated promises to get better. He ran a stressed hand through his hair. What else is there to say? “Cecil I’m…so sorry” He couldn’t even keep the futility out of his apology. He sat down on the coffee table not even able to meet Cecil’s eyes.

-Cecil reached out and touched the other’s knee. “I know. I know you are. It’s just…Carlos…I waited for an entire hour. No phone call…no nothing. If you can’t make a date, I don’t mind! But waiting and waiting and waiting is just…” He sighed heavily and pulled his hand back to drape it over his chest, leaning his head back. “It’s so tiring, Carlos.”

-“I know, I know.” Carlos said putting his hand on top of Cecils. If anything, Cecil is the perfect one. His endless patience, his deep lulling voice. “I-I’m sorry I couldn’t be-” He cut himself off. He had been about to say ‘your perfect Carlos’, but he knew that it would just shift blame from him to Cecil. Resting his head on his free hand, he sighed, not able to find the words that could ease his perfect Cecil out of this hole of pain he has dug.

-Cecil looked at him again, sitting up and taking Carlos’s arms to pull him to sit beside him, holding both of his hands in his lap. “Hey. You are everything I want. Everything, okay? Absolutely everything. We just…we need to work a little on your communication skills,” he said with a small chuckle.

-Carlos chuckled, and pulled Cecil into a kiss. What was he so worried about. He should know by now that Cecil will never stop loving him. “You are wonderful” Carlos said, breaking from the kiss only to speak.

-Cecil cupped his chin and kissed him back, giggling softly. This made it better…mostly. “You are the wonderful one, my perfect Carlos.” He pulled back and pressed a gentle kiss to the other’s nose. “We can order food and have a movie night, instead.”

-‘But i'm not perfect’ Carlos thought inwardly. But he smiled anyway, and helped Cecil pick a movie.

— The next morning, Carlos woke up to find himself laying on Cecil's shoulder. They both had fallen asleep on the couch last night after the movie. Carlos snuggled into his boyfriend a bit more, taking in his scent, and feeling the rise and fall of his breath, and his steady heartbeat. The warmth of Cecil made all troubling thoughts of yesterday melt away. Carlos realized that this was what they needed. He wanted every morning to be like this one. And how much better would a bed be to a couch? An Idea formed in Carlos’ head. He had seen a pamphlet for condos the other day. After spending a few more moments snuggling with the slumbering Cecil, he detached himself, kissed Cecil's forehead, and left to go find a condo, for him and his Cecil.

-Cecil murmured incoherently when Carlos got up, pulling the blanket up to his chin without waking up, smiling softly and humming when his forehead was kissed. He woke up a while later, saddened when he realized Carlos was gone, picking up his phone and calling him.

-Carlos had just gotten to the line for the condos as his phone rang. Checking the caller ID, he saw it was Cecil. Smiling, he answered. “Hey babe, sorry for not leaving a note. I have something I have to do, It will make everything alright!” Carlos exclaimed, looking at the billboard at the front of the line. Condos: A perfect kind of human A perfect kind of life Get yours today!

-Cecil wiggled excitedly, wondering what the other was thinking about doing. “It’s okay, lovely Carlos. I’ve got to get to work soon anyway. I slept a little late. You were just so comfortable…”

-“So were you” Carlos said seductively. “Listen, I have to go, but I promise,no i swear, that I will call you in a little bit. There Is something I want to tell you…” Carlos let his voice tail off, allowing Cecil to use his imagination. The line started shifting slightly as Leann started swinging around her hatchet. “But it will have to wait until later. Besides, you can probably figure it out during your show. Also, I just realized I forgot my equipment, I have to go babe bye” Carlos hung up and rushed to the lab. He cant make it too obvious for Cecil, it had to be a surprise.

-Cecil chuckled slightly and then sighed, a goodbye half out of his mouth before the line went dead. “…bye.” He pursed his lips and then nodded, stretching a bit before he went to make some coffee and get ready to go to work.

-At the lab, Carlos picked up one of Cecil’s favorite lab coats, dubbed business casual. Carlos really didn’t know the difference but today was for Cecil, and he aimed to make up for yesterday. By the time Carlos was done grabbing his equipment and a danger meter(seriously the thing was a life saver when it came to living in Night Vale), Cecils show had started, and Carlos made sure the radio was on as he headed back to the abandoned gas station, where the line seemed to have doubled. ‘Great, this line was going to take forever to get through’ Carlos lamented, walking to the back of the line, as Cecil began talking about the condos for sale.

-Cecil had kicked his feet up on the desk and leaned back in his chair, pulling his microphone down, quite comfortable. “Listeners, I don’t know much about condos. I…” he paused, uncertain, “don’t know much about anything at all, honestly. But I do know this: condos are coming to Night Vale. They will be for sale, and this is great and exciting news for us all!” Briefly as he continued speaking, he wondered if Carlos had heard about these yet. Maybe he would want to do experiments on them–definitely he would. Yes, Carlos would be very happy about this.

-The line behind Carlos got longer and longer. It seemed the entire town was coming out. Leann finally managed to calm down as Carlos tuned into what Cecil was saying: “–of the Night Vale Daily Journal, who was holding a bloodied hatchet, in case she came across any bloggers or online journalists who might threaten her grip on the printed word; Carlos the Scientist. Ahh… Ahhh, Carlos the Scientist.” Carlos blushed at Cecils mention of him. Then he realized that since Cecil was aware of him being there, he had to act fast. He brought out a random doohickey he put together to look scientific, and began pretending to analyse things with it. Janice Rio( from down the street) in front of him began asking what he was doing and how it worked. “Uhh, Science?” Janice took that as a reasonable explanation, and turned to face the direction of the line again. Carlos breathed a sigh of relief, until he heard Cecil make reference to his lack of communication skills over the radio. He was going to have to talk to Cecil about having some personal moments off the radio.

-Cecil sat up, starting to get off topic. “I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this on this show, by the way, um,…but Carlos is totally my boyfriend! I just didn’t know if I had brought that up before. He’s— he’s very handsome. And into science. And he is learning to be better about calling when he needs to cancel dates to get some experiments done.” He smiled, cooing slightly. “Where was I? Ah, yes…”

-After dealing with the mild chaos that Roger created by ripping the spine out of a random being in line(luckily the being had two spines so it wasn’t fatal, therefore legal.) Cecil began to catch on to why Carlos was there. He then also remembered that he had promised to call. The line began moving as Carlos dialed the number.

“Uhm, hello?”

“Cecil?”

“Carlos?”

“Yes. Scientifically speaking, that is who I am.” Carlos silently facepalmed at his words.

“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to tell you…you sound different lately.”

“Yeah, I– I put in new vocal cords recently.” In truth, Carlos had forgotten he had changed his vocal cords. It was during the whole ‘throat spiders scare. Carlos mentioned how scientific it all was, as one last ditch attempt to distract Cecil from the condos. but he realized he might as well tell Cecil.

“Oh, no, I knew that. I mean, obviously I knew that. I’m very into science. But hey, listen, I’m in the middle of a show!”

“Yeah, I know, you’re covering the story about the condos. That’s why I called.” Carlos could practically hear Cecil hanging onto his every word.

“Well, I didn’t know you listened to my show.” ‘How could he not know?’ Carlos wondered.

“Every time you’re on!” Carlos clarified. He then heard Cecil mutter something into his microphone.

“So…those condos, right? They’re– they’re very exciting, right?”

“Everything is exciting, particularly existence! Existence is the most thrilling fact of all!” Carlos knew he was stalling, he couldn’t help it. He knew eventually he would have to tell. Plus he enjoyed hearing Cecil’s voice. But then the front of the line became closer than Carlos thought. “Listen, Cecil, I called to talk to you about something important, but I– now I don’t think I have time.”

“But time…”

“…isn’t real, I know. Neither is anything else. That is the most scientific fact of all, but they’re calling my name and I don’t want to lose my place in line. This is important, uh, because…mmm. I have to go, I’m sorry. I’ll call you back later, probably. Everything is some level of ‘probably,’ nothing is a promise, it is most likely we’ll survive to talk again.” Carlos hated to hang up, especially if it meant leaving Cecil to wonder.

“No I understand, I lov–”

“Hey, listen, I lov–” They both said at the same time. The realtor called his name again, saying it was the last chance. ”Th– they– they’re calling my name, I have to– I…ha– I’ll call back when I can. Goodbye.” Carlos then rushed to buy a condo.

-Cecil continued on with the show, his mind still on Carlos, even with his surprise guest, who he decided to ask an opinion of, starting to worry a bit if Carlos has been trying to get independence or something, maybe Cecil was, in fact, smothering him, but The Faceless Old Woman had nothing helpful to say. Beware…they had to beware everything, what was so special about these condos?

-And then they arrived. Black featureless cubes. They looked nothing like actual condos. He began to study his. He felt strangely drawn to it, but he ignored the sensation. He discovered that the cubes emit a low level of radiation, and some sort of strange, pulsing energy. The longer he worked around the cube, the more drawn to it he was. Each passing secound he felt more and more compelled to touch it. Finally, he did. He saw, and understood. He called Cecil, but barely registered what either of them were saying. The cube, the condo told him he could be perfect. And he understood. He can be the Perfect Carlos Cecil has always wanted. He didnt realize he dropped the phone. He placed his other hand on the cube. He understood. He went inside, and then everything went to black.

-Cecil immediately panicked when Carlos stopped responding on the phone, sputtering something or other about being back soon and then sending the show to the weather. He jumped up, tripping over his own feet in his haste to get to his car, and then sped over to the condos…getting there too late. Carlos was already inside, and Cecil felt sick, pushing several people aside as he unhesitatingly jumped in after him. Everything was suddenly very, very bright, very clear, and he saw…he saw a lot, and none of it should have probably made any sense, but it did. It did, and it made him…happy. He saw Carlos, and he reached out to take Carlos’s hand, and for a moment…he wanted to stay. More than anything, he wanted to stay. And then he did not…because he knew he could not. This was wrong. This was…perfect, and it was wrong. He blinked himself out of the daze, gritting his teeth, and he grabbed Carlos’s limp form in his arms, forcing away the urge to remain and instead fighting his way back out, collapsing to his knees onto the ground, gasping for breath, his perfectly imperfect Carlos still in his arms.

-Carlos came to in the arms of his lover, and sighed. “Cecil?”

-Cecil sat down heavily and held him close, nuzzling his hair. “Yes…’s okay…you’re okay.”

-“Cecil, I’m sorry. for everything. I wish I can be as perfect as you want me to be. I just, I just don't know how.” Carlos felt a tear stream down his face. “I’m sorry i’m not everything you want” -“Carlos,” Cecil murmured once he’d caught his breath, wiping the tear away, “Carlos. My love. My wonderful, lovely Carlos. No. You are not perfect. You are better than perfect. You are imperfect. I do not want whatever that was in there. I want you. Just you.”

-Carlos wrapped Cecil into a tight embrace, sobbing as pent up perfections and imperfections fell through, and out his body in the form of tears.

-Cecil didn’t try to stop him, cooing gently and rubbing his back, kissing all over his face. “I love you, baby,” he said, repetitively. “I love you. I love you. My perfectly imperfect Carlos.”

-After hours that could literally be minutes(Night Vale and time were not friends),Carlos had calmed down, the cubes dissipated, and they were left to silently hold each other, taking in and cherishing each others imperfect perfections. Carlos moved to rest his head on Cecil’s lap, as they sat in the grass, a few feet from where the cube had been previously. Carlos decided it was time to tell him.

“Cecil? I was thinking about the series of ongoing actions that we perceive as the present, and the amassing of memories that we treat as the living record of the past and the hopes and dreams and assumptions that we project as the future. I was thinking about time. And about how it means something to so many people, and about how it’s so finite, and also so infinite.I was also thinking about space. About how it is nothing, and then, a point which is just a single spot within the nothing, and a line which separates the nothing into two nothings, and how a plane is a patch of nothing and an angle just where two nothings meet, but all those things combined, with an object of points, lines, planes, and angles, an object with length and width and depth that can take up actual space. Until that object becomes something made of nothing – within nothing.An object can be a wall, a floor, a roof, a bed, a table, a dog, a door, a rug, a…a home.And then, I thought about how a home is just a group of objects connected by a shared personal experience of time – our past, our present, our assumed future. A home is…I mean, uh, scientifically speaking, speaking form the point of view of mere facts and logic, and um…hmm. You know, what with science, and all…uhhh, I– I– I just thought it was…time for us to…make a home together.”

-Cecil listened, very quietly, to what Carlos was saying, and by the time he finally said those words–oh, those words, those beautiful, beautiful words–he felt his heart would burst with joy. He kissed Carlos, cupping both his cheeks, and then nodded vigorously, still squishing the other’s cute little face. “Yes! Yes! That would–well, that would be neat!”

-Carlos giggled, pulling Cecil into a more intimate kiss. “But somewhere else, ok? Not a condo” Carlos said pausing the kiss.

-“No,” Cecil quickly agreed, “No, not a condo.” He smiled softly and kissed the other again.

-“Mmm and Cecil?”

-“Yes, my love?”

-Carlos began fumbling around in his lab coat. after a minute, he finally brought out what looked like a small box. “This was going to be a whole lot more romantic if not for the whole,…Condo.. fiasco. but, umm, I decided that n-now would be as good a time as any.” Carlos sat up, faced Cecil, took a deep breath, and opened the box. “Cecil, will you marry me?”

-Cecil gasped and put his hands over his mouth. “C-Carlos…” he stammered, lowering his hands a bit to reveal a huge grin. “Carlos, yes! Yes, yes, yes!”

-Carlos took the ring out of the box and grabbed Cecil’s left hand. In the midst of attempting to put the ring on Cecil’s ring finger, Carlos fumbled and dropped it, thus inducing a giggle fit as he picked up from the ground. This time he held his own hand steady as he slipped the ring successfully onto Cecil’s ring finger. Before they kissed however, Carlos put his finger to his lips. “Lets keep our engagement between us for now, until we can get settled before being bombarded with congratulations everywhere we go. Ok?”

-“Absolutely. Yes. Yes, Carlos.” Cecil gripped the other’s fingers and kissed them before kissing him, grasping gently at his hair. “I love you. I love you so much.”

-“Mmm, yes. I love you too!” Carlos said between breaths as the kiss got more and more passionate, before looking around and realizing that they were still near the abandoned gas station and still very much in public. “We-mmm, We should go…go to your place. Ceec…Cecil.” Carlos said attempting to break the kiss.

-Cecil let out a tiny groan and didn’t allow him to pull away for another second, then finally let him go, smiling, kissing at his face, grasping his shoulders. “Y-yes. Yes. I think…–oh! Oh, gosh. Oh gosh! My show! Damn!” Cecil exclaimed, jumping to his feet, pulling Carlos up, giving him a kiss. “I have to go! Tonight, I promise! I promise, I promise, I promise,” he said, kissing Carlos between each of them. Then he released the other and dashed off to his car.

-Carlos watched his lover, no, fiance, rush to his car and drive away. Carlos got into his own car, turned on the radio, and listened to Cecil’s deep, comforting voice as Carlos drove to Cecil’s, already starting to make plans, for tonight. -“…Walking through where the condos once stood, you can hear their voices

— but distantly, faintly. And if you reach out when you hear that voice, if you reach out and feel for them, you too will get a vision of some far-off place, a place that is, in its own way, in a way perhaps that can never be explained, perfect. A perfect place that you will never visit. And that is the best news of all. Listeners, I send you now back out into the night. And it’s dangerous out there, and it’s lonely, and it’s not perfect.” But then, Cecil thought, very happily, neither is anything else that is good. “Goodnight, all of you listeners, and goodnight, Night Vale. Goodnight.”

**Author's Note:**

> my RPs and other writings are at sammykhwrites.tumblr.com
> 
> my main tumblr page is sammykh.tumblr.com


End file.
